


two boys, one hamster

by gayestever



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Highschool AU, M/M, but like a misunderstood one, hes very nervous, its basically crack i think, josh is a badass, there is light angst, they do the kiss, tyler steals a hamster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 13:32:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11806989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayestever/pseuds/gayestever
Summary: “Dude… is that a hamster in your pocket?” Josh questioned. His tongue darted out and wet his bottom lip. A blue stud flashed in the shitty fluorescent lighting. Tyler willed himself to not say anything stupid.“Maybe I’m just happy to see you?” Tyler suggested, his eyes widening after he realized what he said. It was that lack of impulse control that had gotten him into this situation in the first place.(Tyler steals a hamster and Josh steals a kiss.)





	1. tyler stole a hamster

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from the-witch-daddy on tumblr!
> 
> This is maybe the most ridiculous thing I've ever written. Enjoy.

Tyler was busted. His plan of leaning inconspicuously against a row of lockers had failed him, and now his lack of proper planning was putting him in an early grave. Of all of the people who could’ve caught him, Josh Dun would definitely be the least forgiving, at least according to his reputation. Josh’s eyes flickered between Tyler’s guilt-stricken face and his twitching hoodie pocket. He looked amused.

“Dude… is that a hamster in your pocket?” Josh questioned. His tongue darted out and wet his bottom lip. A blue stud flashed in the shitty fluorescent lighting. Tyler willed himself to not say anything stupid.

“Maybe I’m just happy to see you?” Tyler suggested, his eyes widening after he realized what he said. It was that lack of impulse control that had gotten him into this situation in the first place.

Josh, resident leather-jacket-wearing, motorcycle-driving, cliche-fulfilling badass, let out the loudest laugh Tyler had ever heard. The smaller boy pressed himself further against the wall and held a protective hand over his pocket.

“Calm down, I’m not gonna rat on you,” Josh put his hands in his own pockets. “Or kill you. Jeez.”

Cleo stuck her head out of Tyler’s pocket, tiny nose twitching as her head swiveled around. She’d chewed a tiny hole in the fabric of Tyler’s hoodie. Josh reached forward, and Tyler flinched like he’d been burned. Josh’s face flashed with hurt, his brows furrowing and eyes darkening. He wet his lips again. 

Josh took his hand back and ran it through his hair. The dyed-red had faded into pink, which Josh wore with such confidence nobody dared to say anything about it. Tyler envied him. If his hair was dyed pink, he’d be teased into tears. If Josh spread around that he’d stolen Mrs. Tonkin’s notorious hamster, which was notorious around the school and had it’s own instagram account, the teacher would hear. Thinking about teasing he’d endure after the chewing out he’d get made his ears flush.

“Please just walk away and forget you ever saw this,” Tyler pleaded.

“Why?” Josh asked. He didn’t have Mrs. Tonkin, didn’t see the way she treated Cleo, as if the tiny hamster was her baby.

“Once, Alex Jones knocked into Cleo’s cage. Mrs. Tonkin gave him detention for two weeks. She was hysterical.” Tyler pulled out the hamster and ran a finger down her back.

“Can I hold it?” Josh looked at Cleo with wonder in his eyes. He had the softest smile Tyler had ever seen on his face, with dimples carved deep into his cheeks.

Tyler handed her over. Josh didn’t look like he could really hurt a fly up close, and it wasn’t as if he had much of a choice-- Josh was calling the shots. Josh was so enveloped in baby-talking to Cleo that he didn’t see Mrs. Tonkin’s door fly open.

“Fuck! Shit, dick, ass,” Tyler chanted every curse word he knew while pulling Josh into the nearest janitor’s closet.

Tyler couldn’t see Josh, but he could perfectly envision the look of surprise and anger on his face. Tyler’s hopes of getting out unscathed-- or at least alive-- withered. They were only a hamster-width apart. Tyler could feel Josh’s breath on his cheek, warm and slow. He willed himself to stay calm.

“What the fuck,” Josh hissed, pulling out his phone.

It just-barely illuminated the tiny space. The light leached some of the worry out of Tyler, who had started to think about texting his mom that he loved her. Outside, Mrs. Tonkin was babbling at Mr. Groban. The poor woman was no doubt near tears. Tyler looked back and forth between the door and Josh’s amused face, pondering a route of escape. At least Josh didn’t look as murderous as Tyler had pictured.

“Are you going to explain, y’know, this?” Josh waved his free hand around, gesturing at the cleaning supplies around them.

“It all started when I was born,” Tyler whispered, eyes flashing. He really needed to start taking things seriously, but he was stuck in a closet with a man that had supposedly been arrested four times, harboring a stolen hamster, all the while being very close to passing out. Finding the humor in the situation was the only thing keeping him from crying.

“I’m being serious,” Josh groaned, voice as quiet as he could get it, “If I’m going to get more detention, I’d like to know why.”

“Okay, fine, it was a dare,” Tyler sighed. He didn’t want to know what Josh had done to already have detention. It wouldn't make his 'stuck in a closet' experience any more pleasant.

Josh glared at him, waiting for him to continue. Tyler pressed an ear up against the door and heard a congregation of teachers trying to calm down a hysterical Mrs. Tonkin. Josh followed suit. His eyes widened, and a hand pressed over his mouth, suppressing his oddly loud laugh. She was croaking and honking, her voice rising in pitch each passing moment. Josh seemed to find the humor in bad situations too. 

“If I didn’t do it, I would have had to shave my head. I’m kinda attached to not being bald.” Tyler reached out and took Cleo back.

“I like your hair,” Josh whispered into his ear, closer than he had been before. He reached out and ran a hand over it, his touch light and teasing.

Tyler was so surprised that he braced himself against the shelves, which caused a panicked Cleo to bite him. The yelp he let out was far less manly than he cared to admit, and way louder than it needed to be. Somewhere amid the panic he had dropped Cleo, and he was so absorbed in patting around the shelves frantically that he didn’t hear the footsteps approaching the door.

Just as a teacher pulled it open, Josh drew him into a kiss. His lips were warm and rough and Tyler’s eyes fluttered shut without a second thought. Josh’s rings were cold and pressed into Tyler’s side, large, calloused hands gripping his hips desperately. He bit down onto Josh’s lip, drawing a gasp out of the taller boy’s throat.

“What in God’s name are you two doing!” Mr. Groban spluttered. His eyes bulged, his face flushed, and his fists clenched. At least Tyler would die a happy man.


	2. tyler stole joshs heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's the unnecessary angst !

After a week, Tyler accepted that Josh was avoiding him. They’d gotten off with a warning after helping find Cleo. The staff didn’t want to out the two boys, and Mrs. Tonkin was so grateful that she would have given them her car keys and credit card if they’d asked. Tyler felt guilty, but he mostly couldn’t stop thinking about Josh.

He left Mrs. Tonkin’s class, where he was bombarded with so many smiles and out-of-date jolly ranchers that people suspected he was getting some from his English teacher, and made a beeline for his locker. Freedom was calling him. All he needed were his car keys, and he would have an entire weekend to gripe to Jenna about the pink-haired asshole that’d kissed and ditched him/

‘We on for tonight?’ Jenna had texted him. He was in the middle of pushing open the door with one hand and started to text back with the other when he barreled into somebody. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, it was an accident,” Tyler spluttered while bending over to grab the jacket the other person had dropped.

He was so nervous that he didn’t see the patches on the jacket, didn’t register who it belonged to. When he straightened out, it was Josh’s face that was staring down at his. He looked equal parts deer-in-a-headlight and amused. Tyler stepped back.

“It’s, uh, alright,” Josh stuttered. He was more flustered than Tyler had ever seen him. 

“Why have you been avoiding me?” Tyler blurted out. There was that lack of impulse control again.

A group of girls parted around them to get through the door. Josh beckoned for Tyler to follow him outside. He lead a very nervous Tyler to the bleachers, which were abandoned. It was so cold that Tyler could see his breath, and his hamster-bitten sweatshirt did little to protect him. Unconsciously, he scooted closer to Josh, trying to steal his body heat.

“I’m sorry for kissing you.” Josh played with the sleeve of his jacket. His head was bowed, and Tyler couldn’t see his expression.

“Why? What are you afraid of, Josh?” Tyler came precariously close to begging him for answers.

“I’m afraid of you being straight.” Josh stood up. His voice was flat. His nostrils were flaring. He looked more like the Josh Dun that had fought two seniors as a freshman and won than the Josh Dun who pet hamsters. 

Tyler shrank back. He was too scared of saying something to make Josh even more angry to speak. Josh took it as an invitation to continue, “I’m afraid that you’ll tell everyone that I’m gay and I forced myself onto you. I’m afraid that you believe all of the rumors. I’m afraid that you’re afraid of me.”

Josh looked dangerously close to crying. His fists were clenching and unclenching, finally coming to rest in his pockets. He looked unhinged, towering over Tyler with his mouth set in a hard line and his eyes blinking back tears. Tyler stood, abrupt and angry.

“You were being selfish! You have no real reason to be scared, you’re just making excuses.” Tyler closed the space Josh had put between them and stared up at him. The height difference wasn’t enough for Tyler to have to put in much effort to look into his eyes, but it was enough to be noticeable. Tyler felt small.

Josh stared back, gaze intense and unwavering. His face had steeled, like all emotion had fled the scene. No evidence remained but the redness around his eyes. He turned to walk away. Tyler reached out and grabbed his wrist, pulling him flush against his body.

“I don’t want you to make excuses,” Tyler whispered.

Josh closed the gap with a gentle kiss. He pulled back as suddenly as he’d moved forward. Tyler answered the unspoken question by leaning up and kissing him with more ferocity, moving his hands up to tug on Josh’s curls. Their bodies pulled flush against each other. Tyler felt warmer than he had in months, a rush of heat flooding to his head. Josh's hands squeezed his hips before moving down and cupping his ass. Tyler gasped and pushed up against Josh. They pulled apart for air, staring each other dead in the eyes.

“I’m not straight, I would never out someone, I haven’t since the hamster, and I’m absolutely terrified of you,” Tyler said, “I’m terrified of how bad I want to get to know you, and how horrible I would feel if you walked away right now.”

Josh kissed him one last time before leading him off of the bleachers and to his car. He held Tyler's hand, their hips bumping as they walked in silence. Tyler didn't want to break the quiet, so they walked through the deserted parking lot in silence. Josh pressed him against the driver’s side door and kissed him senseless as soon as they reached the car. Josh gave Tyler his number, saved it as 'the accomplice', laughed as he kissed him again.

“Text me when you get home, alright? I want to prove to you that you have no reason to be scared, if you'll let me." Josh kissed him one last time before starting his motorcycle and driving away.


End file.
